The invention relates to a method of collecting traffic information by receiving measured values, transmitted from at least one vehicle, in respect of location and movement of the relevant vehicle.
The invention also relates to a system for performing the method.
A method of this kind is known from the article "Ali-Scout--A universal guidance and information system for road traffic", R. von Tomkewitsch, Second International Conference on Road Traffic Control, 15-18 Apr. 1986. The cited article describes a traffic guidance system in which vehicles comprise a navigation device which guides the user to a preselected destination by means of a position-finding device and data concerning the local road network and current traffic situation as generated by a central computer and transmitted by guidance beacons. For traffic-dependent guidance it is necessary for the central computer to have available current traffic information which is provided by the vehicles themselves, the vehicles transmitting measured values (such as travel times and waiting times on route segments determined by the guidance beacons) to the guidance beacons which transmit this data to the central computer for processing.
It is a drawback of such a method that it requires a complex and expensive network of guidance beacons with infrared transmitters and receivers in the vehicles as well as in the beacons.